A paper published recently in PLoS One - "A New Body Shape Index Predicts Mortality Hazard Independently of Body Mass Index" - describes a new approach for assessing mortality rates based on a few, simple body measurements. It expands and improves upon the BMI - Body Mass Index - which has been used for years as the basis for a clinical definition of obesity.
The paper describes the new formula, but does not provide an online calculator for the new measure - ABSI - A Body Shape Index. So I decided to implement a simple online ABSI calculator, which you can access here:
The best way to evaluate your ABSI value to the general population is to view the larger version of Figure 1a from the article. The chart in the top-left corner shows the mean ABSI values by age and gender. Using that chart, you can compare yourself to the US average values.
My score - 0.071 - which puts me comfortably below the mean for men in their early 40s <whew>